Jack-8 days old

Nicole came up to take some newborn pictures of Jack. I love the smiles and sweetness she captured in the photos of our little man. Here are some favorites:

 

 

October Instagrams

10.6.2014

This little sweetheart was such a champ today. She had her elbow pinned to fix the fracture from last week's chair jump. #clairebear #neveradullmoment

10.8.2014

Most adorable and enjoyable load of laundry I've ever done! #babyprep

 

10.17.2014

I really had no intention of posting my bathroom prego selfie, but Claire was just too cute sneaking into the pic. Hallelujah for only one more week of this BUMP! 

#kissesforbabybrother

10.18.2014

Family date to an ISU football game. #gobengals

10.19.2014

So this happened today!! Baby boy didn't want to wait until Friday for my c-section, he wanted to come today!! We are in love! 

10.21.2014

My new boyfriend Jack

10.23.2014

I have FOUR kids!!! :)

10.24.2014

Today is the day we were supposed to have our baby boy... Instead, we have been blessed with five extra days to love and cuddle this sweetheart! #babyjack

10.27.2014

This girl just adores her baby brother!

10.31.2014

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween 2014

It's a good thing I was so prepared for Halloween this year! The girls' costumes were picked out and ready in plenty of time, even with Jack coming early. The girls were able to go to the ward Trunk or Treat with James on Wednesday, and then he took them trick-or-treating Friday on Halloween. I joined them with Jack in the moby wrap around the neighborhood for a bit, and it was so nice to get out. 

Our Princess Anna

Our cute cowgirl

Our "nice" pirate

We are sure loving our baby Jack. 

He is such a cuddly sweetheart. If he's being held, he's happy!

He pulls the funniest faces, and mostly only cries when he needs to be changed, or is hungry. 

He sleeps a lot during the day, which makes for some long nights for his Mommy and Daddy!

We teasingly call him "The One-Eyed Jack" because he will often only have one eye open when he's waking up. 
We are dying to know what color his eyes will end up...they are looking grayish blue, so we'll see!!

He's just a tiny little peanut, wearing newborn diapers and clothes with room to grow. When we left the hospital he was down to 6 lbs. 5 oz., and at his appt the Friday after he was born he was only up to 6 lbs. 7 oz. 

We have found out he loves music, especially church music, or instrumental. 

He always escapes his arms from being swaddled.
Jack has two adorable little dimples in his cheeks. I hope they stay!!

He puts up with lots of noise and affection from his loving sisters.

He usually calms down to the sound of Mommy's voice. 

We get lots of comments about his great head of hair and of course, about how much he looks JUST like his sisters!!

Nicknames already include: Jackers, Jack Jack, Baby Brother, Jackie Boy, and Jacks.

Here are some pictures from Jack's first week at home...

  

 

So deep in thought. :)

My wonderful counselor, Linda brought over some diapers for Jack, and a treat for the girls. I sent her this picture of the girls with their monster-mouth suckers. :)

Sherry offered to take the girls for the weekend, which was such a great help for James and I. We loved spending time at home with just us and Jack. James also had a test Monday, so it was nice for him to be able to spend the time he needed studying.
Grandma Jones has not being doing well the past few months, so we felt it a priority to go see her and have Jack meet his amazing great-grandparents. We had a wonderful visit (and some amazing huckleberry-raspberry cheesecake) with Grandma & Grandpa before picking up the girls at Sherry's.
Grandma & Grandpa just loved Jack. It was so sweet to see them look at him so tenderly and with such great love.

We had dinner at Sherry's before coming home with the girls, and I realized I had forgotten to take a picture of her when she came to meet Jack on Wednesday. 

Jack J.

It took us until Monday to decide on baby boy's name. We had a few we had been considering, but none we were in love with. When he was born, I felt like one name in particular was the one, but in the operating room as baby was being taken care of, James came over to me and reported, "He looks like a Jack!" Which was funny, because that was a name we had loved and talked about a lot, but kind of decided not to use. We still went back and forth, practicing calling him by the other names. Finally we both agreed and knew that he was Jack!! We already decided on the middle name of J. in honor of our brothers: Jason, Jon, Jacob, and Jess. So our sweet Jack J. officially had a name.
My hospital stay went surprisingly well, and I had some really great nurses. The girls came up for another visit on Monday afternoon, and we were able to come home on Tuesday evening. This recovery has been a bit rough as I try to keep myself from doing too much, and trying to get my pain under control, but in time I know I'll be feeling much better. My mom and James have been such great help taking care of the girls, the cleaning, the cooking, errands, and everything else while I rest and take care of Jack.
We have had many friends, ward members, and family come meet Jack, bring cookies and other gifts, and amazing friends who brought dinners. We have been so blessed and feel so grateful for the love and support we've received.

 

Funny story: The biggest baby item we needed this time around was a carseat. We used ours with all three girls, but it had expired and seen better days, so we got rid of it awhile back. I couldn't bring myself to fork out the dough for a new one for our last child, so I kept putting it off. Finally, the Saturday before Jack was born, James and I ordered one on sale online, and it was expected to arrive Tues, Oct. 21. Well, we were at the hospital and not going to make a special trip home just for the carseat, so we borrowed one from the Ormonds to bring Jack home in. And as you can see it was a totally girly carseat. Poor Jack. With three older sisters, that probably won't be the last time he has to use something girly. :)